Seth Petruzelli is looking forward to the competition of Bellator’s Season 8 tournament, but not its schedule.

“I love fighting, but I’d rather take exciting fights on a fight-per-fight basis with big-name guys,” he told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “The tournament wasn’t my choice.”

Why, then, did the 13-year vet get roped into it?

After all, there are large gaps in Petruzelli’s record. Some of those represent struggles with the business of fighting. But others reflect his focus, which has never fully been committed to MMA. He dabbles in real estate with his brother. He’s opened a number of gyms in Florida. At one point, he owned a Smoothie King franchise with his former wife.

When there’s a fight camp ahead, he’s focused. But when there isn’t, other interests compete with MMA. Petruzelli likes tending to his businesses, and he enjoys instruction as much as the grind of fighting.

He found himself in a pretty good position with Bellator, earning a vicious first-round KO of former UFC champ Ricco Rodriguez this past August. He could have continued to fight one-offs and made money.

But the competition in Season 8 proved to be too irresistible. So Petruzelli agreed to go through the rigors of what could be a three-month training camp. Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal were the guys he wanted to fight.

Also, the $100,000 tournament prize didn’t hurt.

“I was like, you know what? I’ll suck it up and do it,” said Petruzelli (14-6 MMA, 1-0 BFC), who meets Jacob Noe (8-1 MMA, 1-0 BFC) in the opening round of the light-heavyweight tournament at Bellator 85. (The fight airs on the Spike.com-streamed preliminary-card in advance of fights on Spike TV, which broadcasts the main card of the event at Bren Center in Irvine, Calif.)

Before he gets to meet any name opponents or get a look at wads of cash, though, Petruzelli must first beat Noe, who comes into his tourney debut with wins under the Bellator and Strikeforce banners.

Petruzelli actually thinks Noe is a worse style matchup for him than someone like Sobral, whose grappling skills represent a big threat to striking stylists such as he.

If he’s not careful, he might blow an opportunity to bag the big game.

“I’m not looking past Jacob at all,” he said. “His hands are going to be quick and fast, and I’m ready to do a standup battle with him.”

Meanwhile, Petruzelli has gone to great lengths to ease the strain on his body. To help him recover from hard workouts, he steps into a cryosauna, where his skin is temporarily blasted with subzero temperatures to stimulate an ice bath.

“It’s basically liquid nitrogen in the tank, and it gets down to negative 300 degrees, and you’re in there for four minutes,” he said. “It lowers your body temperature super fast. I’m trying to do it two or three times a week instead of ice baths, because I hate ice baths.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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